Fountains, Finally!!

Fountains Abbey (including Fountains Hall, Fountains Mill and Studley Royal with the deer park and St. Mary‘s - in short, the entire estate) is one of my favourite places in the world. Hardly surprising, therefore, that we went there on Monday (July 18).

This was the first of two record-breakingly hot days in the UK, and even in North Yorkshire, the temperature was expected to rise to around 36C. Still, we decided to go, and prepared accordingly by a) leaving early, b) carrying (and drinking) plenty of water, c) wearing appropriate clothes (including hats), d) applying sunscreen and e) walking at a leisurely pace and allowing for frequent stops whereever we could find a bit of shade.

The walk from Ripon to the village of Studley Roger, where the entance to the deer park is, does not take long. The uphill bit past the gates towards St. Mary‘s was not too hard, taking it slowly and under the welcome shade of the trees. 

Once arrived at the visitor centre, we had a good browse at the shop before getting our tickets and moving on. 

Fountains Hall was our next stop. It was still early enough for staff sweeping the floors, but the house was open and we looked at the exhibition, part of which we remembered from 2019.

From the Hall, it is not far to the Mill, where we enjoyed the exhibition of professional and very beautiful photographs taken during lockdown on the estate. 

The Mill kiosk was open, and we found a bench in the shade for cold drinks and sandwiches.

And then - Fountains Abbey, finally! One could argue that the ruins have been ruins for centuries, and seeing them once is enough. For me, it isn‘t enough; no matter how often I‘ve been, it is always beautiful, always a bit different and never boring.

The tea room by the lake was only operating as a kiosk, but we just wanted a cold drink anyway, and saved our water bottles for the way home.

Walking back was a bit of a challenge, but we coped well with frequent stops in the shade and drinking water.

At the cottage, a couple of hours of rest was in order, before we prepared our meal for the evening, taken in the garden that is part of the cottage.

Since we have almost two full weeks here this time, we are thinking about another visit before we leave.

(The order of pictures is not exactly how it should be, but I find handling photos on blogger rather uncomfortable on my ipad, so it‘ll have to do.)